Oxford HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY THE GREY FRIARS IN OXFORD PART I A HISTORY OF THE CONVENT PART II BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF THE FRIARS TOGETHER WITH APPENDICES OF ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS BY ANDREW G. LITTLE, M.A. BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD Oxford PRINTED FOR THE OXFORD HISTORICAL SOCIETY AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1892 [ All rights reserved ]...

The object of this work is to give an account of the outward life of the Franciscans. This might be fairly taken to include the whole activity of the friars with the exception of their contribution to scholastic philosophy; for that clearly forms a subject by itself. But even with this limitation the account here given of the Franciscans’ work does not pretend to be complete. The documents which remain to us do not by any means cover the whole of the active life of the Franciscans. While for the

For the compilation of the bibliographies in Part II the following catalogues of manuscripts have been consulted [1] :— Bernard de Montfaucon, Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum Manuscriptorum; Paris, 1739, 2 vols. fol. Haenel, Catalogi Librorum Manuscriptorum qui in Bibliothecis Galliae, Helvetiae, Belgii, Britanniae M., Hispaniae, Lusitaniae, asservantur; Lipsiae, 1830. Edward Bernard, Catalogi Librorum Manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae in unum collecti; Oxon., 1697, 2 vols., fol. Vol. I, Bodleian;

Anal. Franc. = Analacta Franciscana, sive chronica aliaque varia documenta ad historiam Fratrum Minorum spectantia, edita a Patribus Collegii S. Bonaventurae, Quaracchi, 1885-7, 2 vols. Archiv f. L. u. K. Gesch. = Archiv für Literatur- und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters, herausgegeben von H. Denifle und F. Ehrle. Bale, Script. = Illustrium Majoris Britanniae Scriptorum ... Summarium, 1559, 2 vols. B. of Pisa = Bartholomew of Pisa, Liber Conformitatum, ed. Milan, 1510. Bernard = Catalogi Libr

P. 6 , n. 5, for tempora, read temporalem. P. 33 . There was no house of Grey Friars at Evesham. Simon de Montfort was buried by the monks of Evesham ( see Rishanger). The Miracula Symonis de Montfort , however, bears evident traces of Franciscan influence. P. 49 , n. 3, for Church, Quarterly Review, read Church Quarterly Review. P. 54 , l. 11, for because, read became. P. 56 , n. 5 for quos, read quas. THE GREY FRIARS IN OXFORD. PART I. HISTORY OF THE CONVENT, A. D. 1224-1538....

EARLY YEARS. Arrival of the Franciscans at Oxford.—Their early Poverty, and Cheerfulness.—Oxford Friars as Peacemakers, and Crusaders.—Relations to the University, and to the first Colleges.—Their strict observance of the Rule. The Franciscans first arrived in England in 1224 [3] . On Tuesday, the 10th of September in that year (to follow the account of Friar Thomas Eccleston, the earliest historian of the Order in this country), a company of nine friars, four of them clerks and five laymen, lan

PROPERTY AND BUILDINGS. First Settlement inside the City Wall.—Acquisition of the houses of W. de Wileford (1229) and Robert Oen (1236).—Increase of the area in 1244-1245.—Grants from the King, Thomas Valeynes, and others.—Island in the Thames, 1245.—Messuage of Laurence Wych, 1247.—Friars of the Penitence of Jesus Christ.—Their property in Oxford granted to the Minorites by Clement V, and by Edward II, 1310.—Grants from various persons, 1310.—Richard Cary and John Culvard, 1319.—Walter Morton,

FRANCISCAN SCHOOLS AT OXFORD. Learning necessary to the friars.—The first readers to the Franciscans at Oxford.—Nature of the office of lector; Grostete and Adam Marsh.—The lector and his socius .—Later lectors were ordinary Regent Masters.—Appointment to the lectureship.—Special regulations concerning the lectors.—System of instruction recommended by Grostete.—Lectures by friars.—Controversy with the University about theological degrees in 1253.—Controversy between the University and Dominicans

BOOKS AND LIBRARIES. Absence of privacy.—Books of individual friars.—The two libraries, and their contents.—Grostete’s bequest.—Extant manuscripts once in the Franciscan Convent.—Alleged illegal detention of books by the friars in 1330.—Richard Fitzralph’s statements.—Richard of Bury on friars’ libraries.—Dispersion of the books.—Leland’s description of the library in his time. It is difficult to realise the external conditions under which the friars produced their works. At the end of the thirt

PLACE OF OXFORD IN THE FRANCISCAN ORGANIZATION. Learned friars as practical workers among the people.—Their sermons.—Educational organization throughout the country.—Relations of the Oxford School to the Franciscan Schools of Europe.—English Franciscans teach at foreign Universities.—Oxford as the head of a custodia .—Provincial chapters held at Oxford. If the Franciscans became leaders of scholastic thought, they were first and foremost practical workers. ‘Unfitted as the works of Roger Bacon o

RIVALRY BETWEEN THE ORDERS: ATTACKS ON THE FRIARS. Rivalry between Friars Preachers and Minors: proselytism.—Politics and Philosophy.—Peckham and the Oxford friars.—Evangelical Poverty.—Contrast between theory and practice.—Attack on the friars by Richard Fitzralph.—Charge of stealing children.—Wiclif’s early relations to the friars.—His attack on them in his later years.—Charges of gross immorality made not by Wiclif, but by his followers.—The University and the friars: summary of events in 138

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE FRIARS’ MANNER OF LIFE AND MEANS OF LIVELIHOOD: BENEFACTORS. Lost records.—Mendicancy.—Procurators and limitors.—Career of Friar Brian Sandon.—Charges of immorality against the friars.—Their worldly manner of life before the Dissolution.—Poverty of the Convent.—Sources of income.—Annual grants from the King and others.—Frequency of bequests to the friars.—List of benefactors.—Classes from which the friars were drawn.—Motives which led men to become friars. Of the internal ec

THE DISSOLUTION. Attitude of the Grey Friars towards the Reformation in its intellectual, religious, and political aspects.—The Divorce.—Visitation of Oxford in 1535.—Suppression of the friaries in 1538.—Condition of the Grey Friary.—Expulsion of the friars; their subsequent history; Simon Ludford.—Houses and site of the Grey Friars.—Dr. London tries to secure the land for the town.—The place leased to Frewers and Pye; bought by Richard Andrews and Howe; resold to Richard Gunter.—Subsequent hist

CUSTODIANS AND WARDENS. 1. W. of Esseby, Warden and Custos, c. 1225.—2. E. de Merc, Warden, 1237.—3. P. of Tewkesbury, Custos, 1236-1248.—4. J. of Stamford, Custos, 1253.—5. Martin, Warden, c. 1250.—6. Adam of Warminster, Warden, 1269.—7. J. Codyngton, Warden, 1300.—8. J. of Okehampton, Warden, 1340.—9. R. Clyff, Custos, 1465.—10. R. Salford, Warden, 1488.—11. W. Vavasour, Warden, c. 1500.—12. R. Burton, Warden (and Custos), 1508.—13. W. Goodfield, Warden, before 1513.—14. J. Harvey, Warden, 151

LECTORS OR REGENT MASTERS OF THE FRANCISCANS. The following sixty-seven names are classed together under a separate heading simply because they are found in a list in an old manuscript. The list is evidently intended to include all the Regent Masters of the Friars Minors at Oxford [894] in chronological order; it seems to break off about the year 1350. Whether it is complete up to that date may be doubted; but no contemporary, or nearly contemporary, notice has been found of any Friar Minor Rege

FRANCISCANS WHO STUDIED IN THE CONVENT AT OXFORD, OR HAD SOME OTHER CONNEXION WITH THE TOWN OR THE UNIVERSITY. Agnellus or Angnellus of Pisa was custodian of Paris before becoming first Provincial of England [1204] . He is said to have been made Provincial by St. Francis in 1219 [1205] ; the order as given by Francis a S. Clara [1206] is as follows: ‘Ego frater Franciscus de Assisio Minister Generalis praecipio tibi fratri Agnello de Pisa per obedientiam, ut vadas ad Angliam, et ibi facias offic

DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE ACQUISITION OF LANDED PROPERTY BY THE GREY FRIARS. 1. William son of Richard Wileford (c. 1228).—2. Robert son of Robert Oen (1236).—3. Royal license to the Friars to enclose their lands (1244).—4. Purchase by the King of an island in the Thames (1245).—5. Grant of the same island to the Friars (1245).—6. Thomas de Valeynes, grant of two messuages (1245).—7. Laurence Wyche, grant of a messuage (1246).—8. Royal license to enclose (1248).—9. Royal grant to the Friars of t

MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS. 1. Food for the Friars Minors, etc. ( A. D. 1244).—2. Adam Marsh as royal nuncius ( A. D. 1247).—3. For the same ( A. D. 1257).—4. The Church of the Minorites used as a Sanctuary ( A. D. 1284-5).—5. Royal grant of 50 marcs ( A. D. 1289).—6. Decree of the General Chapter at Paris ( A. D. 1292).—7. Royal grant of 50 marcs; tally on the sheriff of Oxford for half the amount ( A. D. 1323); evidence of payment.—8. ‘Receptor denariorum gardiani Fratrum Minorum Oxon’ ( A. D. 13

CONTROVERSY BETWEEN THE FRIARS PREACHERS AND FRIARS MINORS AT OXFORD, A. D. 1269. This curious treatise, here printed for the first time, is preserved in Vol. 3119 (ff. 86-88) of the Phillipps MSS. at Thirlestaine House. The MS., a folio with two columns on each page, is written in a clear upright hand of the late 13th or early 14th century. The work, which appears to have been unknown to Wood, is attributed by Bale and Pits to Eccleston, probably merely because it is bound up with a copy of Ecc

SUPPLICATIONS AND GRACES FROM THE REGISTERS OF CONGREGATION. John David. (1450/1). 4 o die Marcij supplicat etc. ffrater Johannes Dauid ffrater ordinis sancti ffrancisci, quatinus eius oppositio, incepta in termino sancti Michaelis vltimo et continuata vsque ad festum Pasche proximum, sufficiat sibi pro completa forma sue oppositionis. Hec gratia est concessa sub condicione quod legat primum librum ysaie in scolis publicis. (Regist. Aa. fol. 51 b.) (June 5, 1454/5). Supplicat frater Johannes Dau